Environmental Portraiture
ART-40494
Environmental Photography: Portraiture on Location
9 Weeks | Prerequisite: Photo I: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO (ART-40629) or equivalent experience
Discover the art of telling stories through portraiture that captures not only a subject’s face, but also the essence of their environment. In Environmental Photography: Portraiture on Location, you’ll build upon your foundational photography skills to develop a personal style that combines technique, creativity, and visual storytelling.
Course Details
Through thoughtful assignments, reading, and guided critiques, you’ll learn how to pose, light, and position your subjects in meaningful locations, resulting in images that communicate depth, authenticity, and emotional resonance.
This course balances hands-on practice with conceptual exploration. You’ll examine light quality, lens selection, and compositional strategies to enhance your images. You’ll also delve into historical and contemporary works, gaining insight into how environmental portraiture has evolved and is applied in editorial, conceptual, and commercial settings. With each assignment, you’ll receive supportive feedback, helping you refine your approach and gain confidence in your vision.
Expect to engage in constructive communication with the instructor and your classmates. By the end of the course, you’ll have created a cohesive series of environmental portraits that align with your creative goals. Along the way, you’ll improve your technical skills, expand your understanding of visual storytelling, and prepare to share your work in a final portfolio that reflects both your newfound expertise and unique artistic voice.
What You'll Learn
- Pose and position subjects in various locations to convey identity and atmosphere.
- Apply depth of field and aperture control techniques for ideal portrait results.
- Select appropriate focal lengths for diverse environmental portrait scenarios.
- Utilize lighting patterns and available or added light sources effectively.
- Enhance captures with basic light modifiers, including diffusers and reflectors.
- Compose images balancing positive and negative space to create visual impact.
- Understand historical and contemporary environmental portrait photographers’ work.
- Create, edit, and present a cohesive series of environmental portraits as a final portfolio.
- Develop a personal artistic style that integrates environment, subject, and narrative.
Course Information
Equipment/Software: Fully adjustable DSLR camera or mirrorless camera with manual settings. Basic lighting tools (e.g., reflectors, diffusers; speedlights recommended). Access to image editing software (e.g., Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop)
Flexible Enrollment: This course is an elective for the Photography: Images & Techniques Professional Certificate but is open to all students, even if you're not enrolled in the Certificate Program.
